What Does Matthew 3:5 Mean in the King James?

Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan,

Matthew 3:5 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

Jerusalem, Judea, and the lands around Jordan all move out toward a river whose name carries the sense of descent.

THE MEANING

The city, the province, and the lands around the Jordan move toward one voice beyond their usual centers. The call reaches across the landscape and draws every region toward the descending waters. The movement is communal: no single place contains the response.

THE ROOT

ἐξεπορεύετο

exeporeueto

GROWS FROM

⁨πορευ-⁩ (poreu-), from ⁨πορεύομαι⁩ (poreuomai)

to go, journey, or proceed along a way

“went out” in this verse is exeporeueto. The verb carries the sense of proceeding forth, with journey in its root; the people are moving toward John. Beside it, the Jordan’s name carries the downward movement of yarad, joining departure from the centers with descent toward the river.

ALSO GROWS

poreuomai: go, journey

πορεύομαι

The crowd’s movement is a journey toward the voice, not merely a location where people happen to gather.

ekporeuomai: go forth, come out

ἐκπορεύομαι

This related form makes the outward direction plain: the people leave their centers and come forth toward John.

יַרְדֵּן

Yarden

GROWS FROM

ירד

y-r-d

descend, go down

“Jordan” in this verse is Yarden. Yarden is commonly connected to yarad, meaning descend. The river’s name gives the setting a direction: this gathering moves toward the descending place, putting the verse’s geography in motion.

ALSO GROWS

yarad: descend, go down

יָרַד

This verb is the root that links the Jordan’s name to downward movement.

morad: descent, downward slope

מוֹרָד

This noun from the same root carries descent as a feature of the landscape, not just a movement made by a person.

THE PATTERN

The summons to encounter draws people out from established centers toward a place beyond the camp.

The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Isaiah 40:3 · KJVThe voice is heard in the wilderness, where the way opens beyond familiar centers.

Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.

Hebrews 13:13 · KJVThe movement toward him leads outside the camp, beyond the place of established belonging.

THE THREAD

Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Luke 3:7 · KJV

The phrase came forth translates the same Greek word family, ⁨ἐκπορεύομαι⁩ (ekporeuomai, to go forth), heard in went out here. The next verse tests outward movement against the fruit their lives produce: departure opens into a demand for visible turning.

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